The Menstrual Cycle and Hormone Control Revision Notes | GCSE OCR Foundation Biology

What this lesson covers

Understand the key hormones involved in the menstrual cycle including FSH, LH, oestrogen and progesterone, and learn how they work together to control e...

• Describe the roles of FSH, LH, oestrogen and progesterone in the menstrual cycle
• Explain how hormones interact to control egg maturation and uterine lining maintenance
• Interpret graphs showing hormone level changes during the menstrual cycle
• Calculate cycle lengths and predict ovulation timing from hormone data

Key ideas to keep in view

Use this lesson to stay inside B3.2 Coordination and control - the endocrine system while connecting the detail back to the wider B3: Organism level systems topic.

• B3: Organism level systems
• B3.2 Coordination and control - the endocrine system
• GCSE OCR Foundation Biology

Lesson notes preview

Read the core explanations from The Menstrual Cycle and Hormone Control before testing yourself from memory.

• 1. The Monthly Cycle - Why Your Body Has a Schedule
• Every month, a woman's body prepares for potential pregnancy through a carefully orchestrated sequence of events. This isn't random - it's controlled by four key hormones working together like a perfectly timed relay race.
• Picture your ovaries as factories and your uterus as a nursery. The hormones are the managers, each with specific jobs: FSH starts egg production, LH triggers release, oestrogen prepares the nursery, and progesterone maintains it. When these managers don't communicate properly, the whole system breaks down.
• Understanding this cycle is crucial for GCSE Biology because it demonstrates negative feedback, hormone interactions, and homeostasis - three major concepts that appear across multiple exam papers.
• 2. The Four Key Players - Meet Your Hormones
• Hormone released by the pituitary gland that causes maturation of an egg in the ovary. Levels are highest at the start of the cycle.
• Trap: Many students think FSH releases the egg - it doesn't. FSH only matures the egg inside its follicle. Think of it as the hormone that 'grows' the egg, not the one that 'fires' it.
• Hormone that stimulates the release of the mature egg from the ovary (ovulation). Shows a dramatic surge around day 14 of a 28-day cycle.
• Female sex hormone produced by the developing follicle that maintains the uterine lining and provides negative feedback to reduce FSH production.
• Hormone produced by the corpus luteum (remains of the follicle after ovulation) that maintains the thick uterine lining for potential implantation.

Continue through the topic

Move to the related lessons or back to the topic page when you need the wider sequence before exam-style practice.